Founding of the Fairfax Independent Company of Volunteers Commemorated

Two-Hundred and Fifty Years ago on September 21, 1774 at a meeting of Gentlemen and Freeholders, George Mason Chairman, formed a Fairfax Militia Association. The rationale behind this act resulted from the Virginia Royal Governor’s dissolution of the House of Burgesses in May 1774. The House of Burgesses did not have opportunity to renew the militia law which expired in 1773.

George Mason addressed the men assembled: “In this Time of extreme Danger, with the Indian Enemy in our Country, and threatened with the Destruction of our Civil-rights, & Liberty, and all that is dear to British Subjects & Freemen; we the Subscribers, taking into our serious consideration the present alarming Situation of all the British Colonies upon this Continent as well as our own, being sensible of the Expediency of putting the Militia of this Colony upon a more respectable Footing, & hoping to excite others by our Example.... That we will form ourselves into a Company, not exceeding one hundred Men, by the Name of The Fairfax independent Company of Volunteers.”

The officers were to be chosen by a majority of the members, and they were to meet to learn and practice “military Exercise & Discipline.” Uniforms were to be blue “turned up with Buff; with plain yellow metal Buttons, Buff Waist Coat & Breeches, & white Stockings; and furnished with a good Fire-lock & Bayonet, Sling Cartouch-Box, and Tomahawk. And that we will, each of us, constantly keep by us a Stock of six pounds of Gunpowder, twenty pounds of Lead, and fifty Gun-flints, at the least.” The volunteers swore to “always hold ourselves in Readiness, in Case of Necessity, hostile Invasion, or real Danger of the Community of which we are Members, to defend to the utmost of our Power, the legal prerogatives of our Sovereign King George the third, and the just Rights & Privileges of our Country, our Posterity & ourselves upon the Principles of the British Constitution” (from Rutland, Mason Papers, 1:120)

George Washington was nominated by the company and later accepted command of the company. Washington wore the buff and blue uniform to the Continental Congress when he was chosen as the Commander in chief of the Continental Army. That uniform became the signature uniform of General Washington throughout the Revolutionary War.

On the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the Fairfax Independent Company of Volunteers the Fairfax Resolves Chapter Virginia SAR sponsored a commemoration in the Historic court Chambers at the Historic Fairfax Courthouse. The Sgt Maj John Champe Chapter from Loudoun County was represented by President Barry Schwoerer who participated in Color Guard by carrying the SAR 250th Anniversary flag and by presenting a wreath.